1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a radio selective calling receiver with a display function which can display letter characters and picture information (also called icon) on a display section.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional radio selective calling receiver with a display function of the type mentioned can principally display, on a display section for which an LCD or a like device is employed, received message information or like information for which letter characters are used, and can further display a condition of the receiver and like information for which picture information is used. One of such radio selective calling receivers with a display function is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. Showa 64-19837 which has a sound absent mode and a sound present mode as calling modes thereof and displays, together with received information, an identification mark for the identification between received information when the sound absent mode is set and received information when the sound present mode is set. Another radio selective calling receiver with a display function is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. Heisei 3-6134 which includes a plurality of receivers each having a display element for displaying call data and displays, on the display element of each receiver, call data such as a call number and a destination number stored in the receiver.
A legend of picture information (icons) is shown in FIG. 2. Icon a is a picture of a battery on which a slanting line is overwritten, and represents that the battery voltage has dropped. Icon b is a picture of a loudspeaker and represents that notification of a call by sound is set. Icon c is a picture of three horizontal wave-like curved lines and represents that notification of a call by a vibrator is set. The last icon d is a picture of an antenna on which a slanting line is overwritten, and represents that the receiver is outside a receiving area from a base station of a pager system and cannot sufficiently receive radio waves from the base station. On the radio selective calling receiver with a call function just described, the picture information of icons a to d is displayed collectively at a particular location, for example, at a lower location, of the display screen or else displayed between rows of letter characters of a message or the like. By such display, a notification for maintenance is conveyed to a person carrying the receiver.
With the radio selective calling receiver with a display function described above, however, since the display screen of the display section requires, in addition to a display area for letter characters, a display area for picture information, it has the following problems.
If picture information is represented by a single letter character, then the picture information is small and cannot be discerned readily. Consequently, there is a problem that even important picture information is very likely overlooked by the person carrying the receiver. This problem is particularly significant where picture information is displayed between rows of letters of a message or the like because it is difficult to distinguish the picture information and the rows of letters from each other.
A possible solution to the problem described above may seem to display picture information with a comparatively large size. However, in order to display picture information with a comparatively large size, it is necessary either to increase the size of the display screen or to decrease the display area for rows of letters. This makes another problem that it degrades the miniaturization and the convenience in handling, which are important factors of a radio selective calling receiver of the type mentioned.